ESRL Global Systems Division

Training Project for the Thailand Meteorological Department

The NOAA Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) is undertaking a
training program for meteorologists, forecasters and senior managers
of the Thailand Meteorological Department. The project is sponsored by
the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. Approximately 30 Thai Met staff
will visit the Forecast Systems Laboratory during May and June to
participate in four training programs that have been specifically
developed for the Thailand Meteorological Department.

Thai Met has recently installed a new supercomputer for use in
numerical weather prediction and a series of forecaster workstations
for nowcasting and mesoscale forecasting needs. The FSL training
program is directed toward providing staff with the capabilities to
make effective use of these new tools. Several classes will be
presented:

A Short-Range Forecasting Class will provide forecasters and
meteorologists within the Thai Met Forecasting Center with the
training necessary to effectively utilize the new supercomputer and
forecaster workstation systems being installed in the Center. This
training will provide forecasters with skills to move from
synoptic-scale forecasts to the capability of also providing mesoscale
forecasts for Thailand. FSL-developed forecaster workstations will be
used to provide forecasters with the opportunity to train on modern
display systems and to use data from observation systems being
developed in NOAA Laboratories. Classes will include sessions
addressing the use of specific data types, particularly remote-sensing
data sources, as well as classes addressing specific types of weather
events. Ongoing real-time weather events will be a key ingredient in
the training activities.

A class in the Operation of a Meteorological Computer Center will
provide systems administrators and system software developers with
policies, procedures, and techniques needed to operate and maintain a
computer center that has the capabilities and uninterrupted
operational status necessary to support the demanding requirements of
an operational weather service.

Training in the use of the FSL Local Analysis and Prediction
System (LAPS) will provide an understanding of local-scale numerical
modeling capabilities that allows accurate forecasting of mesoscale
weather features. The LAPS model provides a valuable tool for
analyzing and forecasting small-scale severe weather events. FSL
scientists will operate the LAPS model for the Thailand area on FSL
computer systems. This local-scale Thailand model will continue to
operate at FSL and its products will be available to Thai Met for a
year following the training classes.

An Executive Training Program will allow senior managers of the
Thai Met Department to have an opportunity to visit a number of NOAA
Offices and develop a better understanding of how NOAA is organized
and managed. This activity will be important to TMD as they seek to
modernize their weather service and improve the timeliness of their
forecasts and warnings. Site visits to NOAA facilities in the
Washington D.C. area, Boulder, and Miami will provide an opportunity
to talk with senior NOAA officials about organization and management
issues.

The scientific training sessions will be a mixture of classroom
sessions and real-time forecast situations. Day-to-day weather events
throughout the United States will dictate the real-time forecast
scenarios to be studied. In addition, the LAPS forecast products for
Thailand will provide the opportunity for the Thai Met visitors to
prepare forecasts using the NOAA forecast tools for their normal
forecast regions.